In recent years, golf club technology has evolved rapidly, with many different types of materials, including wood, composite materials, and various metals, now being used to manufacture golf clubs. Golf ball technology has also evolved from the early balata construction to a variety of new golf balls of different materials and designs, including a popular two-piece construction.
With the advent of new golf balls, golf clubs have evolved to provide a feel and sound to the club when striking the ball, such as a two-piece ball, that emulates the feel and sound of striking a balata ball. Along these lines, golf putter manufacturers have introduced putter inserts designed and marketed to appeal to golfers for their soft feel and sound. However, these putter inserts generally do not allow for logos or other indicia to be practically, and prominently, displayed thereon.
Where the prior art club heads do include inserts with indicia, they are typically formed by employing a transparent layer of insert material covering the indicia. Structures of this type are disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,460,377 and 5,605,510. A problem with prior art insert structures of the type described above is that the strike face of the insert is hard and does not provide a soft feel and sound for good playability, as especially desirable with putters.